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The pioneering history of African-American involvement in the Civil War, with a new introduction by the renowned Civil War historian John David Smith. A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 (originally published in 1887) by pioneer African American historian George Washington Williams remains a classic text in African American literature and Civil War history. In this powerful narrative, Williams, who served in the U.S. Colored Troops, tells the battle experiences of the almost 200,000 black men who fought for the Union cause. Determined to document the contributions of his fellow black soldiers, and to underscore the valor and manhood of his race, Williams gathered his material from the official records of U.S. and foreign governments, and from the orderly books and personal recollections of officerscommanding Negro troops during the American Civil War.